Jon Hamm with his flawlessly groomed stubble and cocky grin plays the haughty sports agent Bernstein with ease. As a groomed smooth talker in sharply tailored corporate suits, there are few to match Hamm and he does what is expected of him. The two main characters of the movie are Suraj Sharma, the star of Life of Pi who plays Rinku and Madhur Mittal, the older brother in Slumdog Millionaire who plays Dinesh. Both of them perform their roles very beguilingly and inspire affection from the crowd. The rest of the supporting cast also perform their roles very well especially Lake Bell who was very impressive in her cameo role as Brenda.
This film was a good example of how sports film should be. I was able to attend an early screening of this film and I believe that I was lucky. Actor Jon Ham proved us that he is as good in film acting as he is in TV series. He gave a phenomenal and satisfying performance in this epic sports drama.
The contest ends with two candidates, Dinesh and Rinku, two young men who have never played baseball nor cricket, but seem to have strong arms to pitch. The two are sent to Los Angeles along with Bernstien and Amit who look to train them for a year before giving them a tryout. Though Bernstien seems to see his candidates as future stars, he doesn't see that the two guys are far from home and only have USC pitching coach Tom House to teach them about the game. Bernstien later learns about caring and such, bonding with the two and giving them the chance of a lifetime.
The problem with a lot of sports stories is that they are mostly underdog scenarios that we've seen before. The Bad News Bears started this trend, you know about the misfits that nobody thinks has a chance until someone comes along to build them into star players. Million Dollar Arm is nothing that different. It two has the misfits, our two Indian guys, and a guy who learns the lesson about teamwork, Bernstien. Give me a break.
Inside Million Dollar Arm is an original story, but the movie treats it like any other old sports movie. Why couldn't the movie be fully focused on the reality show and the travels in India or keep the focus on the two Indian guy throughout. Most of the movie is seen watching John Hamm trying his hardest, but having little to work with. The movie looks impressive and is acted well, but you know what's gonna happen, whose gonna learn which lesson. If you're a baseball fan or simply looking for a nice story about underdogs, you'll get your feel here. But I doubt this will rank among better baseball movies like League of Our Own or The Sandlot.
It's good indie. well made, I like it. It's predictable. But enjoy it so far. And surprisingly it's not boring
My rating 8/10
IMDB : 7.2/10
Metcritics : 56/100
Rotten Tomatoes : 61%
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